Welting and method of its manufacture



at; 11, 1932. P. w. GREENE 1,881,509

WELTING AND METHOD OF ITS MANUFACTURE Filed June 1. 1931 753 ATTORN Y Patented Get. 11, 1932 ares PERCY w. or WHITMAN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO renter n. nnneoun, M

poms Business AS.BARBOUR. WELTING coMPAnnfot' BROCKTON, MASSACHII- SETTS Application filed-June 1, 1931. Serial No. 542,320.

This invention relates to welting for Goodyear shoes and to the method of its manufacture. More particularly the invention relates to a variety of weltingdesignated as i step-bevel welting to distinguish it from the regular Goodyear type having a plane bevel at the upper corner of its sewing edge, although the novel method of manufacture will produce othervarieties.

One object of 'this invention is to overcome the unsightly effect of a grinning inseam if inadvertently obtained in the shoe making process. The step-bevel welting of this invention enables sewing a tighter inseam and because the grain is continuous from the extension across the sewing, edge even if the inseam operator sews too full no unstained flesh will be visible.

A further object of the invention is to reduce the cost of manufacture of Goodyear welting wherein two strings are severed from the bevel and the groove that are not useful for other purposes. The usual fillet is severed into two welt strips, yielding-a split segment in a useful form that may be divert- :ed'to a variety of purposes, and the sewingedge is then perfected by a simple stretching and bending operation.

To the accomplishment of these objects and such others as may hereafter appear,as will readily be understood by those skilled in the art, the invention comprises the novel welting and its method of manufacture as hereinafterdescribed and then particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention will best be understood by reference to the accompanying drawing in which: 7

Figure 1 is a view,'in perspective, of a portion of a welting fillet illustrating the operations of salvaging a split segment and sev- 'ering the fillet into two welting-strips;

Fig. 2 is a view, in perspective, of a portion of a weltingstrip procured by the cuttings shown in Fig; 1-;

Fig. 3 is a view, in elevation, illustrating "the step in the method. of stretching :and bending the thinned inner margin of the welting strip to produce a step bevel at the sewing edge; 7

Fig. 4 is a view, in perspective, of a fragment of the completed step-bevel welting;

Fig. 5 isa view, in elevation, illustrating a pair of rolls for forming a modified or plane bevel sewing edge;

Fig. 6 is a view, in perspective, of a frag ment of the completed plane bevel welting.

In the manufacture of both the step-bevel Q3 and plane bevel welting, as illustrated by the drawing, the first step is the production of two welt strips 10 and 12 from a fillet. it that is double the width of the completed welting. This step is performed by a machine, or mao? chines operating as separateunits-in sequence, having knives shaped to remove a central segment1-6 from theflesh side of the fillet and a knife for splitting the fillet centrally after said segment has been removed. This operation, or operations, produces a welt strip (Fig. 2) having continuous grain from edge ,to edge, an outer margin 18 of full weightor thickness throughout the width of the extension, and an inner margin or-eXtending-grain 5715 flap 20 of reduced thickness, there being a flesh shoulder '22 between said two marginal portions.

It will be observed that the segment :cut-

ting knife will preferably have both edges? rounded so that the reduced .or-fiap 20 is joined to the full margin 18 by a curved shoulder which in cross section may desirably be the quadrant of a circle. In the manufacture of half inch welting-thedouble-fillet fill will be one inch in width and the segment knife'wi'll be about three-eighths of an inch :in width so that thequadrant cuts formed by its edges at 22 will be located transversely of the welt strips where the outer edgeofithe groove should be, that is, substantially fivesixteenths of an inch from theouter edge for the half inch weltingunderdiscussion. The

thickness of the segment 16 may be varied but the [best results have been obtained when 'i it is less than one-half the thickness of the fillet. For other sizes of welting the proportions of the knife are suitably changed.

A welt strip 10, which may be spooledor reeled in indefinite lengths, is fed betweenzgzwfl rolls 24 and 26 (Fig. 3) which are shaped, as shown, to feed the extension 18 without alteration, but to stretch and form the reduced margin or flap 20 in such manner that a stitchreceiving groove 28 is completed along the flesh shoulder 22 and said margin is simuL taneously deflected to form a step-bevel sewing edge consisting of a grain shoulder 30 and lip 31 inward thereof.

By this method of manufacture welting as shown in Fig. 4 is produced, virtually by two simple operations, and there is no waste because the flesh segment 16 may have its rounded edges trimmed and then be'diverted to a variety of useful purposes. The welting strips will be tempered as may be required before shaping the sewing edge, and stain may be applied to the fillets or to the strips according to the desire of the manufacturer.

In Figs. 5 and 6 there is shown welting made by the same method as hereinbefore described but with the sewing edge forming rolls 52 and 34 shaped to produce a plane bevel 36 by deflection, while completing the formation of a stitch-receiving groove 38 as before described. This modified form of the welting may be produced by the method of this invention for those manufacturers who insist upon all Goodyear type welting which they use having a cross-sectional outlinelike regular Goodyear.

In all forms of the welting manufactured by this novel method the grain is continuous from edge to edge of the strip whereby the unsightliness of a grinning seam is hidden, and the material advantage of a wider extension is gained due to the special sewing edge forming operation. The shoulder on the stepbevel sewing edge enables the manufacturer to sew a tighter inseam and thus eliminate grinning after welt beating and outsole stitching if the operator of the welt sewing machine is an artisan of reasonable skill. Obviously the method may be practised on a strip of welt-width instead of starting with a double fillet.

The nature and scope of the invention having been indicated and its preferred embodiments and method of manufacture having been specifically described, what is claimed as new, 1s

1. The method of manufacturing shoe welting which comprises removing a flesh strip centrally from a double fillet of grain leather and severing the fillet through the stock left by the removal of said flesh strip to produce two welt strips each having an inner margin or extending grain flap of reduced thickness terminating in a flesh shoulder, and then shaping said flap to complete a stitch-receiving groove along said shoulder and form a grain covered sewing edge deflected from the grain face on the extension of the welt.

2.'The method describedby claim 1 in which the deflected flap is shaped to form a shoulder above and inward of the stitch-receiving groove to provide a step-bevel sewing edge.

3. The method described by claim 1 in which the flap is deflected in a single plane to provide a beveled sewing edge.

4. The method of manufacturing welting which comprises producing a welt strip having a full width grain face, one margin of full thickness and one margin of reduced thickness with a flesh shoulder therebetween, and then stretching and shaping said margin of reduced thickness to form an inner wall spaced from said shoulder and make a stitchreceiving groove and a grain covered sewing rib deflected from said margin of full thickness.

5. The method described by claim 4 in which the shoulder intermediate the two margins is produced by a concave cut, substantially the quadrant of a circle in cross-section.

6. The method described by claim 4 in which the deflection of the margin of reduced thickness is downward and outward to provide a step-bevel sewing edge.

7. The method of making Goodyear welting with a step-bevel sewing edge which comprises cutting a blank of weltwidth to produce a grain flap extending inward from the the adjacent extension of the welt and form- I ing a flesh shoulder at the under face of the strip, said thinner portion bending downward relative to the plane of said extension to set it opposite and spaced from said shoulder to form a groove, and then bending outward from said groove,

9. Shoe welting of grain leather having an extension of full thickness and a sewing edge slightly thinner than the extension of the welt presenting a grain shoulder and forming the inner wall of a stitch-receiving groove in the flesh side.

10. Shoe welting of grain leather having a grain-covered sewing edge deflected from the extension of the welt, and a stitch-receiving groove in the flesh side having one wall' formed by stock of the extension and its other wall formed by said deflected stock.

11. Shoe welting of grain leather having a deflected inner margin presenting a grain- 'covered shoulder at the inner edge of the extension of the welt and a lip inward of said shoulder, and having a stitch-receiving groove formed in part by said deflected margin.

- width of the welt extension and an inner margin of reduced thickness comprising the remainder of the width of the strip with a flesh shoulder between said margins, and then molding said thinned inner margin forming a stitch-receiving groove adjacent said shoul- 4 der and a grain covered sewing edge integral with said extension.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

PERCY W. GREENE. 

